AS
PUBLISHED
IN THE
BRUNSWICK
CITIZEN
JANUARY
AND
FEBRUARY
1991
WRITTEN BY
DR.
RAYMOND
GRANVILLE
BARGER AND
REV. H.
AUSTIN
COOPER

1634–Captain
Henry
Fleet,
British
ship
captain,
voyaged up
the
Potomac
River to
Great
Falls,
sent
parties up
Potomac
Valley and
the
Catoctin
Mountain
and South
Mountain
prospecting
for gold.

1638–French-English
fur
traders
were
selling
commodities
to the
Indians.

1700–Swiss
prospector
Louis
Michel
searched
for gold
in area.

1717-A
trading
post was
opened by
the
Cartlidge
Brothers,
Edward and
John, from
the
Susquehanna
River
(Pennsylvania)
Trading
Company.
Same year
a series
of trading
posts
opened at
Monocacy
River,
Point of
Rocks,
Berlin,
Williamsport,
Hancock,
by
the same
people.

1722-1732-The
“German
Settlement”
(Lovettsville,
VA)
settled by
Germans
from
Pennsylvania
(Lancaster-York
counties)
who mainly
used the
“German
Crossing”
for
crossing
Potomac at
Berlin.

1731-Captain
Joist
Hite,
British
army
guide, led
a group of
settlers
from
Pennsylvania
to
Shenandoah
Valley,
stopped at
the
“German
Crossing”
a week
until the
Potomac
receded
from a
flood,
still
could not
cross and
went
across
Pleasant
Valley
(and gave
it the
name
Pleasant
Valley).

1731-British
Captain
and guide
led a
group from
Lancaster,
Pennsylvania
to the
Shenandoah
Valley.
Stopped at
a local
spring
(today
Moore’s
Spring).
His name:
Captain
James
Knox. He
stopped
there on
several
occasions,
hence the
name
Knoxville,
Maryland.

1731-First
ferry
across
Potomac
River at
the
“German
Crossing”,
operated
by
Abraham
Pennington.

1753-John
Hawkins
granted
3100 acres
of land on
the
Potomac
river,
named
“Merrypeep-
O-day”
(Looking
eastward
over
Catoctin
Mountain,
the sun
peeps to
the
Potomac
Valley
below,
hence
“Merry-peep
O-Day”.
Brunswick
stands on
part of
this land.

1762-Col.
George
Washington,
Mt.
Vernon,
proposed
making the
Potomac
River
navigable
for small
boats.
River
traffic
was
already
active,
Williamsport-Great
Falls,
by
flatboats.

1777-Formation
of
official
Maryland
Government,
separate
from
British
rule.

1778-Virginia
Legislature
awarded a
license to
the Earl
of
Tankerville
to operate
a
ferry from
Maryland
short to
Virginia,
at German
Crossing;
there was
heavy
travel
from
Pennsylvania.
The land
tract had
17,000
acres. The
ferryman
was
Christian
Shimmer.
Ferry
named
“Tankerville
Ferry”,
and
Brunswick
to the
name
“Tankerville”.

1780-First
religious
services
held in
Brunswick.

1780-First
religious
service
held in
Brunswick
was “The
Mass”.
Priests
from St.
John
the
Evangelist
Catholic
Church,
Frederick,
held
services
in the
home of
Leonard
Smith,
founder of
Brunswick
(Leonard
Smith and
his family
are buried
in St.
John
Cemetery,
Third
Street,
Frederick.)

1780-Clement
Hollyday
and
Leonard
Smith
surveyed
and laid
out lots
for their
respective
families.
Historians
accept
this date
as the
“official”
founding
of Berlin-
Brunswick
(see
Williams
History of
Frederick,
Co.).

1781-October
20, 1781,
John Ross
key,
father of
Francis
Scott Key,
carried
the
message to
Frederick
from
Yorktown
that
Washington’s
troops had
won the
Battle of
Yorktown,
and the
war was
over.

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1783-General
Washington
delivered
a stirring
speech to
Marylanders
in the
home of
John Ross
Key,
thanking
all
American
citizens
for their
help and
sacrifices
all during
the war.

1784-December
22, the
Virginia
Legislature
granted a
license
for the
formation
of the
Potomac
River
Company;
Maryland
did the
same.

1785-A
large
group of
settlers
from
Frederick
County,
Adams
County
(Pennsylvania),
Somerset
County
(Pennsylvania),
removed
into
Kentucky.
Families
from
Berlin
went
along.

1787-Leonard
Smith
surveyed
ninety-two
lots for
sale in
Berlin.
This was
the true
beginning
of
Brunswick;
see map
hanging in
the
Brunswick
Council
room.

1802-Brick
yard and
furnace
office
built at 2

nd
Street and
C Street
(the front
of the
residence
of Helen
and Elsie
Cooper-the
oldest
house in
Brunswick),
later
owned by
John L.
Jordon Sr.
(In what
was called
“Brick
Yard
Hollow”);
kiln
(furnace)
built
1799.

1820-The
Potomac
River
Company
considered
a failure
and
abandoned.
In its
place it
was
proposed
that the
Chesapeake
and Ohio
Canal
Company be
formed,
and a
canal
constructed
from
Georgetown
to
Cumberland,
Maryland.

1821-The
Chesapeake
and Ohio
Canal
Committee
formed.

1822-Jacob
Waltman
Jr.,
received a
license to
operate
the
Berlin-Loudoun
Ferry
across the
Potomac
River at
the German
Crossing.

1828-A
banner
year for
Potomac
Valley
(and
Brunswick);
the
Chesapeake
and Ohio
Canal
began.
John
Quincy
Adams,
President
of th
United
States,
turned the
first
shovel of
soil.

1828-Construction
on the
Baltimore
and Ohio
Rail Road
began on
July 4,
1828; the
first
shovel of
soil was
turned by
Charles
Carroll,
signer of
the
Declaration
of
Independence.

1832-First
B&O R.R.
(steam),
the
“Atlantic”,
between
Baltimore
and
Ellicott
City,
destination
Frederick,
Maryland.
At Mt.
Airy,
steam
engine
uncoupled
and horses
hitched to
car, named
“Frederick”;
they
pulled
coach over
Pars Ridge
and on to
Frederick.

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1832-April
26, name
of town
(now
Brunswick)
changed to
“Barry”,
by the
U.S.
Postal
Service.

1834-First
canal boat
arrived at
Barry.

1834-First
B&O R.R.
tracks
arrived at
Barry
(same day
as C&O
Canal).

1845-Flour
and grist
mill built
on north
bank of
Canal at
Lock 30 by
Charles M.
Wenner.
His
original
farm
extended
from
Wenners
Hill to
north
shore of
Potomac
River; it
had
belonged
to Leonard
Smith.

1854-1858-building
of covered
bridge
across the
Potomac
River, at
Barry.

1860-The
first
public
school
opened in
Barry.

1861-May
1, General
Robert E.
Lee,
Commander
Army
Northern
Virginia,
Confederate
States of
America,
gave
orders to
Col.
Thomas J.
Jackson
CSA to
burn the
covered
bridge at
Harpers
Ferry. It
was burned
June 9,
1861.

1861-June
9, Drake’s
CSA
Cavalry
was
stationed
on
Virginia
side of
Potomac
River of
Covered
Bridge,
across
from
Barry.
(Drake’s
unit was a
part of
General
J.E.B.
Stuart’s
main
cavalry).
Early in
the
morning,
before
first
light,
Drake’s
men
saturated
the
wooden
bridge
with “coal
oil”
(kerosene),
and packed
black
powder
around
piers.
With a
thunderous
road the
covered
bridge
went up in
fire and
smoke. The
citizens
of Barry
rushed to
the scene,
but the
CSA
riflemen
sprayed
the mill
and
lead-road
up
to the
bridge.
All that
they could
do was
watch
their
three-year-old
beautiful
bridge
burn and
fall into
the
Potomac
River.

1861-June
9: at the
same time
the Barry
Bridge was
fired, the
Point of
Rocks
bridge
was
destroyed
by General
Turner
Ashby,
CSA,
called the
“knight of
the
Shenandoah
Valley”.
Dams,
canal
boats,
towpath,
etc.
destroyed
along the
canal from
Point of
Rocks to
Harpers
Ferry. The
B&O R.R.
suffered
the same
destruction–tracks
were torn
out;
telegraph
poles,
telegraph
sheds
destroyed.

1861-The
Maryland
Home Guard
unit
(Union)
was
stationed
at Barry
under
command
of Captain
Charles H.
Russell, a
son of
Barry. On
September
12 when
Stonewall
Jackson
was about
to capture
Harpers
Ferry
(completed
September
15) the
Barry and
Frederick
Potomac
Home Guard
joined
Col. Dixon
S. Miles,
commander
of the
Railroad
Brigade of
the Middle
Department,
Eighth
Army
Corps,
Union,
with
12,000 men
at the
Harpers
Ferry
garrison.

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On the 15

th
the
garrison
was
captured,
except the
gallant
1,200
cavalrymen
who
escaped in
total
darkness,
across the
pontoon
bridge
right
under the
noses of
General
McClaws’
men up on
Maryland
Heights
directly
above
the ferry.
Captain
Charles
Russell
and nine
hand-picked
men left
the ferry
to go on
one of the
most
dangerous
missions
of the
war: to
take a
message
for help
to Gen.
George B.
McClellan,
stationed
at
Bolivar,
Maryland,
just west
of
Middletown...mission
accomplished,
but too
late...on
the 15th,
Harpers
Ferry fell
to
Col.
Stonewall
Jackson
(CSA). All
through
the war
Barry was
not
affected
very much
except for
an
occasional
rifle shot
across the
river by
an anxious
CSA lad.
The main
reason for
the
respect
that the
Virginia
people had
for Barry
was that
on both
sides of
the river
were
relatives
on the
other
side;
churches
had
members in
Virginia,
especially
the
Reformed
ad
Lutheran
Churches.

1861-After
quiet
returned
following
the firing
of the
Potomac
River
bridge at
Barry,
the Corps
of Army
Engineers
(Union)
built a
pontoon
bridge
that
remained
until well
into 1862,
as a means
for the
Union to
get fast
deployment
of cavalry
units (to
frighten
off CSA
units
spying on
Barry).

1862-Skirmishes
between
Union and
Confederate
calvaries,
at Barry,
Petersville,
and
Knoxville.

1862-September
14, the
Battle of
South
Mountain,
especially
the two
battles at
Burkittsville,
Cramptons
Gap and
Brownsville
Pass.
People of
Barry and
doctors
took
bandages
to
Burkittsville
hospitals.

1862-September
17: Battle
of
Antietam
at
Sharpsburg
affected
the whole
country
within a
fifty mile
radius.

1862-By
October
the Canal
and
railroad,
and all
roads
around
Barry,
were
repaired.

1862-Barry
on the B&O
Railroad
became the
supple
dept for
the Army
of the
Potomac,
under
command of
Gen. G.B.
McClellan.
The
various
divisions
took their
turn to
come to
Barry and
camp there
(mostly
between
the
tracks)
while
being
reequipped
and
getting
new
uniforms,
new
winterized
equipment,
before
going
south
on October
26.

1862-Camp
sites of
waiting
units at
Barry
depot:
1) General
Alfred
Pleasanton,
Commander
union
Cavalry,
headquarters-the
Captain
John Short
house (of
Revolution
Days), the
Musgrove
House (now
the
American
Legion
Home); all
the space
from the
present
Gross
store to
below
present
roundhouse.
Farmers
hauled
grain and
hay,
ladies
sold baked
goods,
food,
soup...Barry
reaped a
harvest.

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2) General
G.B.
McClellan
had his
rest home
at the
George
Yourtee
house,
just
beyond the
present
Valley
Elementary
School,
Pleasant
Valley, at
Brownsville
Heights.
During
inclement
weather he
made his
headquarters
at the
Charles
Wenner
house
(present
home of
Mrs. Lucy
Erksin
Meyers),
at Souder
Road
(across
from the
present
shopping
center).
On special
needs he
used the
Short
residence.
Mrs.
McClellan
stayed for
the
duration
at the
Yourtee
home.
3) Brig.
General
George
Grodon
Meade and
Brig. Gen.
Truman
Seymour,
Third
Division,
composed
of
Pennsylvania
troops (1

st
PA
Reserves,
2nd
PA Res., 5th
PA Res.,6th
PA
Reserves.,
13th
PA Res., 1st
Rifles)-they
camped all
along the
road
toward the
Rosemont
Lions
Club. The
Rifle
Range was
across
Little
Antietam
Creek, on
the old
Flook
Farm.
4) Maj.
Joseph
Hooker, 1st
Army Corps
(wounded
at
Antietam,
but stayed
with
troops
while at
Barry),
followed
other
division
for his
turn. The
1st
Corps
evolved on
Brig.
Gen.
George G.
Meade,
camped
along the
Barry-Knoxville
Road,
covering
what is
now
New
Addition.
5) Sixth
Army
Corps,
Maj. Gen.
William B.
Franklin,
camped
just north
of
Burkittsville,
covering
farms the
Carpenter,
Miller
(present
Charles
Brandenburg)
farms.
Three
Union
officers
stayed in
the
Brandenburg
house.
Maj. Gen.
William B.
Franklin
was
commander
of the
Union left
wing at
Burkittsville-Crampton’s
Gap and
Brownsville
Pass,
September
14, 1862.
This may
have been
the reason
that he
camped in
that
area.
6) 1st
Brigade, 2nd
Division,
of Sixth
Corps,
Brig. Gen.
Winfield
S.
Hancock,
camped on
the “River
Bottom
Farm”, of
the late
Harry and
Harley
Catlett.-The
farm was
owned
by their
father,
George D.
Catlett
(1866-1933).
Mr.
Catlett
often told
us boys
about
early
Brunswick,
etc. My
brother
Wilbur and
I worked
for Harry
on
Saturdays
during
seasons
that
produced
vegetables,
melons,
etc.; we
hauled
them to
Barry by
twohorse
wagon
load. Mr.
Catlett
said that
the “ Big
Camp”
covered
all the
river
bottom
land form
the Pete
Oden house
(the farm
help
house) all
the way
east to
Quarter
Branch at
the B&O
Yard.
7) Gen.
Custer’s
unit
camped on
the Miller
farm,
Sandy
Hook,
before
camping at
Barry.
Gen.
George
Ambrose
Custer,
who was on
General
McClellan’s
staff, was
seen
at many of
the camps
at Barry.
Mr. G.
Maynard
Eagle
(1888-1957),
who lived
on
Route 464
past the
Charles
Arnold
farm, was
one of
this
writer’s
favorite
aged
historians.
The house
that he
lived
stood
before the
Revolutionary
War. I
visited
him
many
tomes. His
son
Charles
lived on
Marker
Road,
Middletown,
Maryland
until his
recent
death. I
visited
him and he
had many
stories
handed
down to
him from
his
father,
Maynard.

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Among them
was the
story that
the Union
army’s
separate
units,
while they
were being
re-equipped
at Barry,
camped
down the
road form
where the
new high
school
stands,
and around
the house
and barn.
They let
their
horses
loose
in the
meadow
below the
house
(that
would be
to the
right of
the main
road, Rt
464).
Charles
said that
in the
field
(where the
new houses
are now
standing)
he and his
brother
when
cultivating
corn often
ploughed
up a Civil
War belt
buckle.
Each time
that they
found it
they would
clean it
well and
drop is
again, to
see where
it would
turn up
the next
time. Said
Charles
“it is
till there
as far as
I know.”
(1988).
Maynard
Eagle once
told this
writer
that his
father
told him
that none
of the
outstanding
generals
that he
remembered
was
General
George
Ambrose
Custer. He
had long,
flowing
blond hair
to his
shoulders,
scented
with
cinnamon
oil. He
went
through
the Civil
War, and
in the
last
battle
that he
fought was
on that
lonely
Montana
hill, at
the Battle
of the
Little Big
Horn,
where he
was killed
by a Sioux
Indian’s
bullet.
8) Maj.
Gen.
Ambrose
Burnside
took over
the 9

th
Corps at
the Battle
of South
Mountain,
on
September
14 when
Maj. Gen.
Jesse L.
Reno was
killed at
Fox
Schoolhouse.
His main
Rest Camp
was on
both sides
of the
Pleasant
Valley
Road. In
the book
by Gen.
Aplhesus
S.
Williams
“From the
Cannon’s
Mouth”, he
told of
looking
out his
tent at
the long
string of
white
tents
along
Valley
Road (from
the Valley
school
to the
Gapland-Burkitsville
road,
Crampton
Gap). I
used to
work for
“Shorty”
Harmon,
operator
of the
Cigar
Store; he
told me
that Gen.
Burnside’s
unit
camped
where the
upper
(east
bound)
hump at
Knoxville
stood.
9) Maj.
Gen.
Alphesus
S.
Williams,
commander
of the
Twelfth
corps (the
corps that
Maj. Gen.
Joseph
K.F.
Mansfield
commanded
at
Antietam,
when he
was
mortally
wounded)-his
main rest
camp was
in the 40
acres
field on
the
Garrett
Farm, now
the
Albert
Roelke
farm near
Frog Eye
Church. I
have never
found
where he
camped at
Barry.
Harry
Catlett
said that
there were
many Union
units
camped on
their farm
because
there was
plenty of
water in
the canal
and river.
At the
east end
of the
farm
is a nice
spring,
this was
the site
of an
ancient
Indian
Village.
In 1931, I
found a
sopestone
pipe
there,
which I
still own.
Harry told
me that
all that
he could
remember
was that
the
general in
charge of
the camp
had
something
to do with
cigars, I
believe
that he
was
referring
to the
incident
that when
General
Lee’s
units
pulled out
of the
land camp
on the
Urbana
Pike when
he
launched
his
Maryland
Campaign
and split
his army
into five
separate
armies. As
General
Alphesus
Williams
settles
his units
in the
campsite
on Urbana
Pike , two
of his men
found
three
cigars
with

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papers
wrapped
around
them. This
proved to
be one the
many
important
documents
of the
Civil War.
It
revealed
to Gen.
McClellan
the
positions
of the
entire
Confederate
Army
commanded
that
General
Lee in
Maryland
at the
time, and
changed
all of
Lee’s
plans for
the
conquest
of
Maryland,
Pennsylvania,
and the
Nation’s
Capital.
Could
Harry
Catlett’s
answer be
a clue to
the
secret?

1863-On
July 18,
Barry
again
became the
headquarters
for the
Union
Army,
under the
command of
Gen.
George
McClellan.
This was
following
the Battle
of
Gettysburg
on
July 1, 2,
and 3.
Again,
Gen.
McClellan
used the
Charles
Wenner
house for
his HQ
(Mrs. Lucy
Erskin
Meyers
house).
Mclellan
and the
Union Army
crossed
the
Potomac
River,
heading
toward
Richmond
Virginia
on October
26 (Union
Army of
the
Potomac).

1890-April
8:
Brunswick
incorporated-name
changed
from
Berlin
(because
there was
another
Berlin on
the
Eastern
Shore in
Maryland).
A B&O
Railroad
official
gave it
the
name
because so
many
Germans
lived
there
whose
ancestors
came from
Brunswick,
Germany
(they had
worked on
building
the Canal
and
railroad).

1890-B&O
RR yards
moved to
Brunswick
from
Martinsburg,
West
Virginia.

1890-The
Victor
Kaplan
Building
built,
home of
Kaplan &
Sons.

1890-B&O
Railroad
gravity
yards
constructed,
largest
such yards
in the
world.

1890-First
Mayor
elected,
John L.
Jordon Sr.

1890-West
Brunswick
Elementary
School
built on
Brunswick
Street,
with four
rooms.

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1890-Catoctin
Road
relocated
from B&O
right of
way to 9

th
Ave, down
East
Potomac
St., on to
Knoxville
Road.

1890-B&O
built
YMCA, for
employees
to stay
over
(Brunswick
was the
end of a
division).

1892-First
baseball
team
organized
in
Brunswick,
the
Twilight
League on
Wenner
Hill.

1892-May
5:
Fraternal
Order of
Masons
organized
lodge and
sponsored
by the
Sandy
Hook,
Maryland
Masonic
Order of
Masons,
their
lodge
room-building
built on
Square
Corner.

1893-William
L. Gross
General
Store
opened at
end of
Maryland
Ave, at
B&O
tracks.
Motto:
“Whatever
you want,
we have
it.”

1893-B&O
RR
eastbound
classification
yard
constructed.

1893-Population
of
Brunswick
2,000.

1893-Iron
bridge
built
across
Potomac
River,
replaced
ferry
(original
covered
bridge
burned by
CSA in
1861),
built by
Loudoun
Berlin
Bridge
Company,
Newton O.
bake,
president.
Opened
November
3, 1893.
Huge
parade
with over
500
participants
from
Virginia
and
Maryland
marched
between 3,
000 who
lined both
sides of
bridge.
Two
boys fell
off
railing
into the
Potomac
River
(unhurt).
Parade
marched
east on
Potomac
Street,
ended at
East
Brunswick
Elementary.
At 7 p.m.
a gain
display of
fireworks
from
“between
the
tracks”. A
week of
festivities!
Crowds of
sightseers
flocked to
town to
walk on
the new
bridge and
visit this
thriving
railroad
town.

1900-First
street
lights
installed,
a gift
form the
B&O
Railroad.
The source
of
electrical
power was
the B&O RR
shops.

1900-Four
new rooms
added to
East
Brunswick
School.

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1900-Second
B&O RR
classification
yard
built.

1906-1910-
First
prefabricated
houses
built-shipped
from New
York and
erected on
New York
Hill (that
is how the
Hill got
its name)
East
Potomac
Street,
“Ten Row”,
“Harry
George
Row” (next
to former
Litton
Garage on
West
Potomac
Street).

1906-Gravity
yard and
eastbound
hump built
in West
End yard
(Westbound
Hump
located in
East End
Yard).
Number of
pairs of
tracks
multiplied
to make up
the
volume of
trains
leaving
Brunswick.

1906-1910-General
hiring of
railroad
employees
by largest
employer
in County.

1906-First
Baptist
Church
built on A
Street.

1907-West
Brunswick
Elementary
School
enlarged;
west end
of town
growing.

1907-Westbound
RR station
moved from
Seventh
Street to
present
site.

1907-B&O
RR YMCA
built on
Potomac
Street.

1907-Brunswick
declared a
“boom
town” by
area
newspapers.

1908-Eastbound
station
built.

1909-Brunswick
installed
own
electric
line,
power form
Harpers
Ferry
Power and
Light
Company.

1910-First
public
water
system
installed;
gravity
water
supply
high tank,
N. Maple
Avenue on
Wenners
Hill.

1978-Brunswick
Historic
District
listed on
National
Register
of
Historic
Places.

1979-Organization
of the
Lioness
Club.

1980-Celebration
of laying
out of
Brunswick,
1780 by
Leonard
Smith,
surveyor
(he had
laid out
Jefferson,
Maryland
in 1774).

1980-Pilgrimage
of
Brunswick
History
Commission
and
citizens
of the
town to
St. John
Catholic
Cemetery,
3

rd
Street,
Frederick
(the
family of
Leonard
Smith are
buried in
the east
side); a
service
was held
by a
priest and
president
of the
commission.
Mayor
Jess D.
Orndorff
laid a
wreath
upon the
grave of
Leonard
Smith.

1980-The
John T.
Williams
Funeral
Home
bought
form the
C.H. Feete
Brothers.

1980-Beginning
of the
Potomac
River
Festival.

1980-Establishment
of the
Brunswick
Museum
(Dr.
Eleanor
Milligan,
current
curator).

1980-Beginning
of the
Brunswick
Library,
in old
West
Brunswick
School.